Monitors a host of energy and nuclear issues from a public interest perspective
“HALEU IN PORTSMOUTH, Ohio? Nuclear weapons and other grave risks”
Alert from Beyond Nuclear: “The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is poised to forego a more comprehensive National Environmental Policy Act review of American Centrifuge Plant/Centrus’s scheme to generate High Assay Low Enriched Uranium in Portsmouth,
In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has confirmed that a new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is getting underway., as anticipated. The NPR will review new nuclear warheads for which new plutonium pits will be made –
SRS Watch in two plutonium articles of interest, both posted in the Aiken Standard on March 17, 2021:
“Ongoing ‘review’ forces Pentagon official to pull out of SC pit production briefing”
Plutonium pit project – initially to produce pits for new warheads (first W87-1, then W93) – under formal review? The unneeded, unjustified the SRS Plutonium Bomb plant is coming under increasing scrutiny.
Read why the proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant is not needed to make new plutonium pits for the new ICBM (with W87-1 warhead), while Northrop Grumman gets rich: “INSIDE THE ICBM LOBBY: SPECIAL INTERESTS OR THE NATIONAL INTERESTS”
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is quietly moving toward licensing a Centrus facility in Piketon, Ohio to produce “high-assay low- enriched uranium” (HALEU). Why the secrecy?
HALEU is 5% to 20% enriched in uranium-235,
“U.S. continues push to restart plutonium pit production”
Physics Today, March 5, 2021
“The government is preparing two facilities to fabricate the cores of nuclear weapons despite concerns over the safety and necessity of the endeavor.”
“New reactor fuel mission floated for SRS, DOE documents show”
Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, March 5, 2021, article linked here:
Comments on draft EIS on the VTR by Tom Clements,
All you’ll need to know about U.S. nuclear weapons – a force built to fight an all-out nuclear war, not just for deterrence, funneling massive amounts of our money into the pockets of war profiteers.
Irradiated research reactor fuel from Finland’s FiR reactor was recently shipped into the U.S. port of Savannah, Georgia and then transported cross county to a TRIGA reactor in Denver,
South Carolina Environmental Law project (SCELP) takes on the issue of environmental review of production for plutonium pits for nuclear weapons!
Read about it and more admirable work of SCELP in their February 2021 news update.
Groups ask Biden for wider environmental review of nuke work
Associated Press in Washington Post, February 17, 2021
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Watchdog groups want the Biden administration to reconsider a decision by a U.S.
DON’T DUMP ROCK FLATS ON SOUTH CAROLINA!
Public efforts to stop plutonium pit production at SRS have now reached 30 years old.
Biden Administration Asked to Review Plutonium Pit Expansion Plans
News release, February 12, 2021 – by South Carolina Environmental Law Project (SCELP), SRS Watch, Nuclear Watch New Mexico &
SRS Watch has submitted comments in response to the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s draft Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed and unjustified “Versatile Test Reactor” (VTR) which is facing big funding challenges in Congress.
“Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Lab Opens Office in the City of the Santa Fe (“Holy Faith”) of Peace and Environmental Protection”
News from Nuclear Watch New Mexico,
“West Texas is on track to get even more nuclear waste — thanks to the federal government”
A hazardous waste disposal company in Andrews County wants to handle more dangerous levels of nuclear waste.
“SUMMARY OF DECEMBER 9, 2020, WEBINAR CALL RELATED TO EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED BY THE SAVANNAH RIVER ECOLOGY LABORATORY AND THE CENTER FOR NUCLEAR WASTE REGULATORY ANALYSES TO SUPPORT TANK FARM CLOSURE AT THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE”
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) – thanks for their oversight! – reports high radiation levels in new high-level waste processing facility at SRS, now undergoing start up –
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) Needed on Plutonium Disposition and All Plutonium Waste Streams Designated for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) – including from Plutonium Disposition,
CAUTION urged to future well drillers at what was once the Savannah River Site and Idaho National lab – vaults with radioactive waste may lurk below! Subsurface material disposed of as “Waste Incidental to Reprocessing”
SRS Watch accepts the new challenge to act patriotically and for the good of the nation. Will the new administration respond in kind? We have just mailed our first Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of the Biden administration,
“152 Jülicher Castoren stehen immer noch „an Ort und Stelle“ – Ein Erfolg für Westcastor?”
“152 Jülich Castors Still “in Place” – A Success for Westcastor?”
Plans to dump highly radioactive graphite spent fuel from Germany on SRS faces strong opposition in Germany.
The United States and Canada have concluded a multi-year campaign to dump liquid high-level nuclear waste on the Savannah River Site. But indications are that more dumping from Canada is being considered.
Challenges Facing Host of Savannah River Site Projects in 2021; SRS Must Strive to Better Serve Public
Proposed and Unjustified SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant (PBP),
“NNSA Nuclear Plan Shows More Weapons, Increasing Costs, Less Transparency”
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) new Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan (SSMP) doubles the number of new nuclear warhead programs compared with the previous plan from 2019.
“Under Trump, the nuclear weapons industry has boomed – Expansion could be scaled back as President-elect Biden and Congress prioritize pandemic and recession problems.”
SRS Watch in “DOE publishes reactor impact statement”
Idaho Falls Post Register, December 21, 2020
“The U.S. Department of Energy has released the draft environmental impact statement for a test reactor it would like to build at Idaho National Laboratory.”
Congress has finally posted funding language for Fiscal Year 2021.
Full Omnibus bill: https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-116HR133SA-RCP-116-68.pdf
Division D – Energy & Water funding:
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20201221/BILLS-116RCP68-JES-DIVISION-D.pdf
page 108
Plutonium Pit Production.-The agreement reiterates House direction regarding plutonium pit production and clarifies that the plan to complete a resource-loaded integrated master schedule shall include all pit production-related project and program activities that shall provide additional details within high-level milestones for projects based on GAO best practices.
DOE Announces Release of Draft EIS on Versatile Test Reactor (VTR); Lacking Justification and Due to Proliferation Risks, VTR Project Must Not Go Forward – SRS Watch news,
